1947 Cadillac 60S...windshield washer HELP

[Mike Mentzer]

I hope someone can help me. I recently bought a 1947 Cadillac 60S. It was not running at the time, but now is & I am starting to get the car in mechanically sound shape. I am working on the wiper motor & vacuum line replacemnt. I can not figure out how the wiper nozzles get the fluid from the reservoir. I have 2 hoses going from the washer reservoir to the push button on the dash. I can find no source of vacuum in this set-up & also, I can not find any piping to the 2 nozzles. How does the fluid get to the nozzles from this set-up? The wiper switch on center/top of dash has 3 vacuum lines to it...one source is vacuum from fuel pump & other 2 ports are connected to wiper motor ports. Any help would be greatly appreciated...thanks in advance..Mike Mentzer.

[Jack Mcilwraith]

Mike  this diagram I made may help.

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Hi Mike:  The metal vacuum line from the fuel pump goes under the intake manifold then up and through the the fire wall.Then a rubber vacuum line goes up behind the radio. It then has a metal T connection, another rubber vacuum line is attached to other horizontal end of the T and then goes to the middle vacuum port on the top right side of the radio. The other two ports on the radio go to the up and down outlets on the vacuum antena. Now a rubber vacuum hose is attached the bottom outlet of the T fitting and goes up and attaches to the middle outlet of the wiper switch. There are 3 outlets to the wiper switch, two the same size and one smaller. Now attach a smaller rubber vacuum line to the smaller outlet on the wiper switch. The other end of that smaller hose will attach to the smaller outlet on the wiper motor. Now attach a rubber hose to the last outlet on the wiper switch. The other end of that hose will go on the larger outlet on the wiper motor. On that same line and about 3 inches before it attaches to the wiper motor cut the hose and put in a Y connection. Attach another rubber hose to the Y connection and the end of that hose will attach to one of two connections on the back of the washer switch. So unless I screwed up on the explanation, you should have vacuum to the radio, antenna, wiper switch, wiper motor and washer switch. On top of the reservoir you have vacuum pump. On the top of this vacuum pump is an outlet. Attach a rubber vacuum line to this outlet and run the hose through the fire wall and attach it to the other outlet on the back of the washer switch. Now on the side of of the reservoir is a small brass outlet. To that outlet attached a small rubber hose which then goes through the firewall, up to the left wiper transmission. On the side of that  left wiper transmission which is inside the cowl you should see a brass outlet with a 90 degree bend. Cut the small rubber hose a couple on inches short of the end and and put in a T.
Connect the ruber hose to the transmission and then connect another small hose to the T and run this hose acroos the underside of the cowl to the right wiper transmission. Her are a coupls of pictures which might help

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Here is the other picture

[Mike Mentzer]

Thanks Jack for the reply & the drawing. This is gonna help greatly. Mine is all messed up by previous owner.  Thanks again.

[Mike Mentzer]

Thanks Bill for the detailed explaination & photos. Mine is messed up from previous owner who replaced some of the vacuum hoses, but got them all connected in the wrong places. I think your explaination will put me back in working order. I will get under that dash again today and see if I can get all these hoses in the right places now. Thanks again for your help...Mike

[Jack Mcilwraith]

Mike  I just realised that the title of the page I sent didn't get printed. It is "vacuum hose layout". I presume you would already have discovered this, as there were no water connections showing. Sorry for the confusion.

[Mike Mentzer]

Hi Bill...thanks for your excellent details on my wiper/washer problem. I drew a schematic of your directions & after getting all the hoses hooked up...started the car and the wiper motor works...and so does te washer system. Although both are very weak. I am sending the motor out to be rebuilt & not sure what I'm going to do about the weak spray action on the washers. The passenger side squirts hard enough to wet the glass, but not with much force.  The driver's side hits the glass about one inch from bottom, with no force or authority. When I have the switch on the top of the dash turned to right and while pressing the washer button...nothing happens untl I shut the wiper switch off. I just have to figure this part out and then they will be up and running correctly...thanks again for all your help...Mike Mentzer

[Bill Ingler #7799]

Hi Mike: Glad you got things working and I would not be too concerned about the washers. You want all the vacuum you can get to work the washer pump on the reservoir so I never have the wipers on when I push the washer button. Push and release the washer button several times and get as much water on the windshields before you turn on the wipers. As you can see, the washer nozzles have a very small hole and after all these years, the calcumm builds up in the nozzle. I had to remove my nozzles and use a very small staight pin to clean them out. If you are going to drive this car, by all means have the wipers in good repair. I have been in several gulley washers of storms and was very thankful for good wipers and the liberal use of Rain X